


Worlds Apart

by cowboymitch



Category: Hockey RPF, Toronto Maple Leafs - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hockey, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 19:05:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12488744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboymitch/pseuds/cowboymitch
Summary: Messages keep appearing on Mitch’s skin.





	Worlds Apart

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for any spanish in this that’s incorrectly phrased or spelt or anything. Unfortunately, I’m not spanish, I don’t know any spanish, and I had to use a translater for this. If something’s wrong, just let me know. I’ll fix it ASAP!
> 
> I sincerely hope this doesn’t read as a fetishization of the Spanish language or latin people. I know that Auston Matthews is a native English speaker.

_i’m so upset_  

 

**que tienes?**

 

_my fish died_

 

_**:( :( lo siento** _

 

Staring down at his arm, Mitch thought of the days when his fish was still alive and swimming around his tank.

 

He missed Auston. Mitch had never really met him, but his soulmate was out there somewhere and one day they would meet up (they decided this a week after they started writing to each other). They had to at some point.

 

 

Auston was a latino boy from Arizona and Mitch was a kind-of-French boy from Toronto. Through writing on their skin, they could communicate. When Mitch first noticed swirls appearing on his hands while lazing around after school, he was convinced something was wrong. Frantically, he had gone to his mother and begged her to take him to the doctor’s office. But Bonnie had sat him down and explained to him the day she noticed a to do list sprawled upon her arm that wasn’t hers, but belonged to her soulmate.

 

Mitch was ecstatic and scribbled in his messy printing to the person on the other side, _hi! i’m mitch! thanks for the swirls!_

 

In return he received, **hola, mi nombre es auston. encantado de conocerte**

 

Confused, Mitch pulled out his phone and translated the message. He smiled at the message, and wrote back, in his best spanish (courtesy of google translate), _hablas inglés? :)_

 

Auston replied quickly. **ya. do you speak spanish?**

 

Mitch, trying to be cute because he was just like that, quickly referred back to google translate and wrote back, _no, yo he estado aprendiendo francés toda mi vida. Soy canadiense_

 

**why did you start talking in spanish after we just clarified we both speak english?**

 

_i thought it would be polite_

 

_**ok** _

 

Mitch huffed at the one word answer and thought his soulmate must be shy or something. Or maybe there was a mistake and he wasn’t supposed to end up with this Auston guy after all, but a nice girl from Canada who spoke his native tongue and would cooperate with him. Girl. Mitch didn’t think about how Auston was a boy’s name and not a girl’s. He thought about it, but then considered the fact that no one really cared in his family, and that as long as this guy was nice and liked playing CoD and maybe even hockey, he didn’t care if he was a girl or not.

 

So Mitch went back in with his pen, because he had all the time in the world and all the determination he needed to get Auston to talk more to him. And beside that, he liked talking to his soulmate, because Mitch was an absolute sucker for all those cute tales of love. Maybe he cried over the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet, and maybe he watched The Notebook too many times, but he liked it.

 

_what’s up_

 

_**playing CoD** _

 

Mitch thanked the gods and laughed.

 

**hola bebè**

_salut beau_

 

__**mitchy, u know i cant speak french** _ _

 

___u know i cant speak spanish__ _

 

____**lets try to stick to english then. i like spanish though. easier to talk.** _ _ _ _

 

Mitch had noticed that it took Auston longer to answer when he spoke in English. He couldn’t help but feel bad, because he was Mitch, forgiving and gentle. 

 

But he was also Mitch, flirtatious and dramatic, so he said,  _well okay, you can talk in spanish whenever you want if it’s easier but it will cost you a million cuddles when we see each other!_

 

**please...that’s not even a punishment. miss u.**

 

_miss you too..can’t wait until we’re together._

 

That was how most of their conversations would end, like an ember dying out abruptly. It was like as soon as they talked about soulmate things, the talking stopped. Mitch considered it something to work on. He found that it was because he’d rather not face their separation issue for as long as he could. He would rather chat with Auston about the blue sky or the blue jay he saw in a tree or the whatever, if it meant he didn’t have to think about his long lost soulmate across the continent. Mitch just felt so out of place among his peers. Most of them had soulmates a town over or at most a province over. None of his friends had soulmates in fucking Arizona. That was just Mitch’s luck. It caused him a lot of grief. He found himself pathetic for the amount of times he’d fallen asleep with dried tears on his cheeks, clutching the last arm Auston wrote on, thinking about what it would be like to have his body next to him instead of an arm.

 

**u got skype?**

 

_yeah...i do! i cant believe i never thought to mention it! marner_93! call me!_

 

_**will do mi amor** _

 

Mitch hovered over his computer’s screen, waiting, wallowing in happiness and anxiety. What if Auston didn’t like what he looked like? What if Auston thought his voice was dumb? But also, what if Auston was as beautiful as he seemed to be? What if Auston was as kind and peaceful and sweet as he was on Mitch’s skin? 

 

Then finally, the ringtone came on and Mitch decided he’d answered far too quickly, and he was face to face with the person he’d been talking with for months on his arm. He was just right, earthy eyes shining, tan skin, dark hair, and to top it all off a smile so wide it reached his ears. Mitch simply stared in joy, wondering how he’d been granted with such a dazzling soulmate when he was just Mitch. 

 

“Y-you’re a lot prettier in person than you are in pen ink,” he said lamely and Auston smiled even wider, if that was even possible.

 

But then Auston went off in Spanish, like he was trying to read the entire Charter of Rights and Freedoms to him in one breath, and Mitch just watched the way his mouth moved. He had no idea what Auston was saying, but he loved his voice so he closed his eyes and listened, trying to pick out words he knew. 

 

When he opened his eyes, Auston was done talking about who knows what and was staring at him with a mix of sadness and joy in his eyes and Mitch knew exactly what he was feeling. _Why can’t I be with you, why do you have to be so far away, why are you such a blessing, why are you the best person in my life..._ it went on.

 

“I...like the blue in your room. All the blue. Why is everything so blue?” Auston said, his eyes leaving Mitch’s to drift behind him, gazing at the royal blue palace.

 

“I really like the Toronto Maple Leafs. My room is supposed to show that,” he replied with ease. “I bleed blue and white,” he added with a shrug. 

 

Auston smiled at him shortly and then turned his computer around so Mitch could see his room, brazen in Arizona Coyotes merchandise. “Well, I bleed red.” He laughed and Mitch soaked in the sweet sound. He figured he had never heard something so lovely in his whole life. They continued their conversation until Mitch was half asleep, just enjoying the sound of Auston’s voice. 

 

“If I fall asleep, please don’t hang up, just leave it on,” he said sleepily, and then made a point by promptly falling asleep.

 

Mitch didn’t know it because he was dreaming of sweet honey rivers that looked like the irises of a cute boy from Arizona, but Auston kept the skype call going all night, and eventually the two fell asleep. And though they were worlds apart, they were together.

 

 

Mitch and Auston skyped every night that they were free after that. When they weren’t skyping, they were scribbling little notes here and there to each other. It was the most entertaining when Mitch was sat, nearly asleep, in his economics class. Mitch couldn’t give less of a fuck about economics, but he needed the credits. It was as if Auston knew how much of a cheer up he needed, because the smallest of cartoon hearts would slowly appear, one after one, and then eventually, Auston would write **_i can hear mrs reinhart’s boring lecture all the way over here_** and Mitch would smile. 

 

From the front of the classroom, his friend Dylan would be staring at him with the ‘ _why the fuck are you looking at your arm like it’s just drafted you to the maple leafs_ ’ look and Mitch would shake his head at him. He never really was sure if Dylan ever saw his eye rolls because of how far in the front he sat which, in itself, was a mystery to Mitch. How someone could like economics was beyond him. What he knew was that Dylan shouldn’t be so judgemental, because Mitch knew perfectly well that Dylan looked at his arm the same way. 

 

“You’re in love and it’s disgusting,” Dylan said while the two of them made their way to the next class.

 

“Shut up,” Mitch laughed and elbowed his friend in the side. “Just because you don’t like to show off your precious Connor doesn’t mean I don’t like to show off Auston.” Dylan just smiled, and Mitch caught a twinkle in his eye.

**_Mitchy im so tired of the summer_**

 

_why????????_

 

**no hockey**

 

_i get it now_

 

**i want to watch it and play it!!!! right** **now!**

 

_if you ever come to toronto in the winter we can play shinny together and i’ll invite my friends_

 

**then i can finally meet the infamous stromer**

 

_its dylan to you pal_

 

**that makes eichs just jack to you then, PAL.**

 

_deal._

 

**when’s this all going to happen do you think? it is the summer...i could fly to toronto…**

 

_are you sure you want to come here?_

 

**yeah. i wouldn’t make you suffer the wrath of summer in arizona.**

 

_let’s make it happen then. why the hell not?_

 

**okay, be right back. i’ve got some sweet talking to do to my parents.**

 

_same._

 

Flowers in hand, Mitch stood waiting in the Toronto airport nervously. The gate where Auston would be arriving was less populated than the other gates, which was nice. Mitch’s parent’s sat chatting in the chairs nearby. It was a quaint place, but Mitch felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. One last time, he glanced over to his mom in fear, who smiled reassuringly and gave him a thumbs up.

 

**im getting off the plane right now**

 

Mitch wanted to write back but he hadn’t brought a pen. Instead, he just touched his wrist with his fingers and waited. People started to flood out, and others greeted them happily, causing an uproar of noise. A brown haired boy came out, wearing the world’s skinniest black jeans and yeezy’s, and Mitch nearly fainted. 

 

_That’s him!_ his mind screamed at him. _And he’s wearing FUCKING YEEZY’S!_

 

Through all the bodies, Auston locked eyes with him and then in a flurry he was wrapped around the Canadian boy. Mitch felt his wrist burning and embraced the other boy like he was the lifejacket saving him from drowning. Mitch’s lungs had been emptied of air and he was struggling to breathe in the heat of the raw emotion. He held himself back from crying and thought _get it together, crying is no way to make a first impression,_ and pulled himself away from Auston to look at him. They both smiled at each other. From the chairs, Mitch heard his mom say, “I’m just so happy for them,” and his heart burned like he was on fire. 

 

“You’re a fucking beauty!” Auston said. “Wow!” Mitch smiled.

 

“Wanna meet my parents?” 

 

Bonnie and Paul were, as Mitch had hoped, extremely polite to his companion. The entire ride back to their home, Auston was smothered in questions and general small talk. Mitch was delighted to see that Auston seemed to like them so far, even if they wouldn’t spare a moment of silence. 

 

Halfway through the ride home, Auston’s head dropped onto his soulmate’s shoulder, and just like that, he was fast asleep. Mitch caught his mother’s eye in the rear view mirror, who smiled knowingly, and Mitch carefully intertwined his hand with Auston’s. As he looked down fondly at the boy resting on him, he realized this was everything he had wanted since the day the swirls first showed up. 

 

“This is a lot bluer than I thought,” sleepily said Auston, who was still groggy from his nap. Mitch grinned and sat down on his bed, which was also a sea of blue blankets. “It’s nice.”

 

Mitch patted the spot next to him. Apprehensively, the latino boy sat down and looked over at his soulmate. “Do you want to have another nap?” Auston shook his head. 

 

“No, I don’t want to go to sleep too early. And I’ve heard good things about your mom’s food.” The two boys chuckled. Pointing to his phone, Mitch asked, 

 

“Should I call up Dylan? Maybe he can pop over for a bit today or tomorrow?” 

 

Auston nodded. With a big grin he added,  “Yes! Then maybe later we can call Jack or Noah or my Dylan! Yeah?” Mitch agreed and dialed Dylan’s number. Auston heard the shouts of a teenage boy through the phone and was reminded of his own calls between friends, where chaos was very apparent. Through the shouts, Mitch negotiated the hanging out. 

 

“Come meet my boyfriend. He’s a big fucking sweetheart, bro. Just come and we can play mini sticks or something.” 

 

Auston’s cheeks flushed when he heard the boyfriend and sweetheart words come out of Mitch’s mouth. He hadn’t considered the fact that the two of them would be madly in love and head over heels for each other for the rest of their lives. Well, he had, late at night when the moon would keep him awake with her bright light. But he never thought about how it was real. Mitch was his true love. They had to be boyfriends at some point. 

 

“Okay, he’s coming over. That’s alright with you, yeah?” When Auston nodded he continued. “Now I have a serious question for you. What position do you play?”

 

“Centre.” 

 

“Me too! And Dylan!” 

 

He smiled widely. Auston smiled too, and caught his gaze on Mitch’s face. He’d never gotten to look at it so close up before. Mitch was nothing less than gorgeous, with his tan, even skin, glowing healthily. His eyes were something of the ocean, a sea of diamonds reflecting blue and sparkling gloriously. And his lips, oh man. Auston admired the kissable things, bitten and rough but nonetheless so, so pretty. Since the airport, Auston wanted to get his hands on Mitch, but with his parents there he decided it wasn’t the best place to make out. Mitch found his eyes staring hungrily at him, and grinned ever so slightly. 

 

The two only stared at each other for minutes, but it only took Mitch leaning in minisculely for the two to crash together. Auston’s hands (larger than expected, in a good way, Mitch thought) ran down Mitch’s sides desperately. They’d both been waiting too long to feel each other, for real. Their lips smacked together urgently, and they ended up scooching closer to each other so they were practically hugging. Mitch liked the feeling. He enjoyed intimacy, no doubt. Any of his friends could tell you that. But Mitch liked being close to Auston more than any of his friends. Bonnie’s voice rang through the room then, splitting them up in a flash.

 

“Oh…” she spoke, looking entirely awkward. As she scanned the scene, Mitch made eye contact with his mother and saw the uncomfortableness taking form. “Um…don’t let me get in the way.” Then she left abruptly, looking relieved as she tore her eyes away. 

 

Mitch jumped up from the bed, taking Auston’s hand in his and leading him out of the blue room and into his garage nonchalantly, like they hadn’t just been making out aggressively. “It’s too bad you don’t have your equipment with you. Guess my old stuff will have to suffice! Here’s a stick. It might be a little too short though…here, try this one...no, no, no, that one’s too short as well! Why am I so short? Okay...try this…” Auston gazed on fondly as Mitch tore his way through the dirt scented room, pulling out hockey sticks of varying sizes. Auston was enjoying seeing the boy work too much to tell him they all felt pretty much the same to him. Finally, the Canadian boy was satisfied with one and went to grab his own.

 

When Dylan arrived, Auston was hugged. It was unexpected by both Mitch and Auston, but Dylan went in straight for the bubble popper. All of the nervousness about his two best friends meeting washed away from Mitch as the two greeted each other in excitement.

 

“So you’re the stud little Mitchy has been preaching about,” he said with a smile. “Not a bad pick.” 

 

“Hey man, I’ve got a soulmate,” the two laughed like they’d been friends forever and Mitch’s wrist burned again. 

 

He smiled and figured the three of them had better get this game going. With only three of them, a real game was a bit hard, so eventually they settled on taking turns in net and shooting. Mitch was in net, looking smaller than usual without any gear but a glove. Auston smiled sweetly at the boy and then took his shot.  It whizzed past Mitch, who scoffed. “Lucky shot!” He passed it back to his soulmate, who looked scarily focused, and then in a flash the ball was in the net again. 

 

“Still lucky?” Dylan chirped up from behind Auston. “Lemme get in there,” he said, and quickly took the glove from Mitch who looked delighted to be freed from the pipes. “Let’s see who’s luckier.” 

 

They played throughout the whole afternoon, letting the time waste itself away. When the sun began to set, Dylan smacked his friends on their backs and said farewell, driving away in his little green truck. 

 

Mitch laced his hand with Auston’s again and pulled him into the kitchen where his mom was cooking up a storm. Moments later, the family was feasting on a delicious meal of kings, chatting away, and Mitch found himself thinking that everything was perfect. His hand found Auston’s again under the table. 

 

With his stomach and heart full, Mitch led Auston into his ocean room again and the two of them prepared themselves for bed. Mitch noticed his boy moving slowly around the room, and figured he was definitely tired as hell. When they were both clean teethed and pyjama ridden, the soulmates sunk into the mattress together. Mitch pressed his back into Auston’s torso and reigned himself the little spoon. Auston’s arm danced across the smaller boy’s stomach and eventually his hand found Mitch’s again.

 

Their first day together was complete. Mitch opened his mouth to say something cute, but was met with a small snore from the other boy. He decided it could wait until tomorrow. He had the rest of his life anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. If you liked this fic, please leave a kudos or a comment or both. Have a great day!


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